October brought Denton a burst of rain in its first days and little after that, leaving the city's official gauge with about a quarter of a normal month's total and the driest January-through-October stretch in its records.
The weather station at Denton Enterprise Airport measured 1.12 inches of rain in October, compared with a 30-year normal of 4.17 inches, according to daily National Weather Service observations. Most of it, 0.92 inch, fell from Oct. 1 to Oct. 4.
After that the station logged 0.15 inch on Oct. 15, a hundredth on Oct. 16 and 0.05 inch on Oct. 30, with only traces on a few other days.
For the year, the station has recorded 14.91 inches, against a normal of 30.13 inches through Oct. 31. That is the lowest January-to-October total for the airport station in any year since full-year records began there in 1999; the previous low was 15.07 inches in 2005. Three days are missing from this year's record, so the true total could be slightly higher.
A warm month, then a cool week
The month also ran warm. The average high was 81.8 degrees, about 4 degrees above normal, and the average low was 57.7, about 5 degrees above normal. Highs reached 90 or more on five days, topping out at 94 on Oct. 13, before a front on Oct. 16 dropped highs into the 60s.
Lows fell to 42 on Oct. 17 and Oct. 19, and stayed in the 40s for seven straight nights from Oct. 16 through Oct. 22.
Drought categories eased
The rain early in the month showed up on the U.S. Drought Monitor even as the yearly deficit grew. On the map dated Sept. 29, all of Denton County was in severe drought or worse, with about 21% in exceptional drought, the worst category.
By the map dated Oct. 27, no part of the county was in severe drought; about 40% was rated moderate drought and the rest abnormally dry.
